A Tale Of Steve
by stylesrj
Summary: You've probably read plenty of stories about how the agents outwitted the corps and acquired what they need. Well this is not one of these stories. This is a story about one of the security guards. You know the one. When you're hiding just behind a corner and he can't see you for some reason or he's staring at a wall instead of at the door? That's Steve. This is his story.
1. Prologue: You're Fired

It's 2074, and governments no longer existed after the brutal and terrifying Resource Wars devastated the world. Corporations filled in the power vacuum the Wars left behind, ruling the world with brutal efficiency.

The four major power blocs are the Sankaku Corporation, FTM Security, Kelfried & Odin (K&O) Security and Plastech Cybermedical.

Each corporation rules their section of the world with their unique technologies and designs. From Sankaku with their robots and drone security to K&O with military-grade hardware. They are locked in a "Cold War" ever since emerging from the Resource Wars.

Other smaller companies are paid by the leaders of these corporations to spy on each other, from fund stealing to data theft. This created an entire underground industry in the art of espionage.

And one such company that were leaders in this art was an organisation known as Invisible Incorporated.

However, the secretive HQ of Invisible had been located by the Corporations and their leadership went into hiding. Several agents were captured in the raid and their infiltration AI, Incognita was thrown into emergency power.

They had 72 hours to find her a new power source before the AI would go completely dead. The clock was ticking for Invisible and the Corporations were ruthless. For Olivia Gladstone and her agents, these were the tensest 72 hours of her long life.

"Congratulations Employee [Steve] on your recovery. It has been [UNKNOWN] since you were last conscious" the medical computer said.

"What?" a young man said, falling out of his bed in shock. He rubbed his eyes to wake himself up fully and felt warm, soft organic flesh.

"As per standard protocol, your employment with Plastech Cybermedical has now been terminated due to insufficient leave hours" the computer dutifully informed him while a drone helped him to his feet.

"WHAT!?" Steve asked in a much louder, more surprised tone. He then realised couldn't feel any links to his cybernetic implants. Former employees of Plastech had them removed to prevent the other corporations from acquiring free tech; low employee retention rates were rampant across the world.

"Terminated. Fired. Sacked. Removed. Next time, do not be inadequate at your job" the computer said before moving on to the next patient to deliver the same speech about how they were terminated as well.

Steve wondered how it came to this. He couldn't believe he was getting fired for obeying orders. _It's that woman, she caused it!_ He thought to himself in anger as he recalled the incident that led to his hospitalisation.

Steve was on duty at a Plastech Sever Farm facility running security when he caught sight of someone unauthorised in the area. The alarm level was low so he didn't see a need to wander too far from his post to investigate the area.

As soon as he got there though, he caught another glimpse of the same unauthorised contact further up ahead. "Definitely not being jumpy today" he muttered, following after it.

His pursuit was slow as he made sure to watch the corners before proceeding ahead and paid careful attention to the sounds of footsteps and doors opening.

Then he found himself inside the main server room. Two guards were lying unconscious nearby. His cybernetic eyes identified them as "Bruce" and "Evets." But before he could shout "Guard down!" and then report it via SecNet he spotted the intruder standing at the server farm's main console.

It was a woman, probably just as old as Steve was. She wore a large dark green trenchcoat and a short skirt. Several words flashed up on Steve's eyes as he recalled the database entries on known intruders "Jolie Murphy… a.k.a Banks. Known for her embezzlement crimes against K&O."

 _So now she's after Plastech as well_ , he thought as Banks took out a long cable from inside her trenchcoat and attached one end to the back of her skull while searching for the input socket on the console.

Steve wondered what Banks was up to; he had seen the main server a few times and knew it was almost impregnable. The terminal itself was wired with many levels of firewalls and at least 13 security Daemons nested within. They were also enhanced by several amplifiers built into the room.

And Banks was attempting to interface directly with the terminal. _She's going to fry her noggin if she does that!_ Steve thought to himself.

"Steve, you are ordered to subdue the intruder and submit her for interrogation! Do not let her interface with the main server!" came the orders from above. Backup was on the way.

"Come on, it can't be that hard. Where's the neural interface?" Banks was muttering to herself "I'm going to crack this beast and I can't be stopped by something as silly as this!"

"Stop right there!" Steve shouted, drawing out his pistol at Banks "Step away from the console and come with…"

He found himself instantly on the ground as Banks had casually drawn a pistol with one hand and shot him with a neuro-dart. His consciousness was immediately uploaded to a nearby camera as a "Daemon" which gave him a good view of Banks dragging his unconscious body to the console.

That's when things went dark and he found himself waking up in the hospital.

As he pondered his predicament, Steve found himself outside the hospital with a credit chit in hand and a taxi waiting for him. "At least they gave me cab fare."

The automated transport took him to the city centre where the denizens were packed tightly into tall skyscrapers. He took the transport beam at the base of the tower to his floor and entered the apartment assigned to him.

"At least my wife will be happy to see me. She must be worried sick..." he commented cheerfully "I can make up for lost time. Maybe even see my kids…"

As soon as he took one step in however, he tripped on a set of suitcases and tumbled to the floor, knocking over a cardboard box. Several framed certificates of marksmanship tumbled out. "What the?" he said, jumping back to his feet and looking around the room.

He saw a very blurred figure standing in front of him.

"Honey, I'm home?" Steve said nervously.

"Steve you lazy bastard! I've had it up to here with your incompetence!" his wife shouted at him, raising an augmented arm over her head "You get yourself hospitalised and fired from your job! Don't you care about your family!? Oh but who cares about Honey. No, it's all about security contracts with you."

"But Honey dear, I…"

"No excuses Steve! You're no longer welcome here! What you just tripped over is all of your junk!" Honey said "Pick it up and get out!"

"Can I at least see Junior?"

"Hell no! You're not his father anymore!" Honey replied, kicking one of the suitcases at Steve. The former guard tried to grab it only to be knocked to his feet from the impact.

He quickly retreated from the apartment as the rest of his stuff was kicked out. The door then slid shut and locked itself with a red light. "What the hell?" Steve asked himself. _My whole world is crashing down… and all I did was obey orders_ , he thought to himself.

His pocket started to buzz and he retrieved his phone. He had two new messages; the first one indicated a large sum of "incentive money" had been deposited in his main account while the second came from K&O Security.

"Hey Steve! We just heard about your unfair dismissal from Plastech on SecNet! Don't worry though, because Kelfried & Odin has your back! How about you head on over to our executive terminal in Paris for a security job we've got lined up for you? Here's a little bit of a cash incentive to get you started! Hope to see you soon!"

Steve shrugged and said "I must be imagining things…"


	2. Chapter 1: Executive Decision

Twelve hours later, Steve was dressed up and suited in his new security uniform for Kelfried & Odin Securities and already two hours into his first shift. His anonymous employers informed him it was a low-security site for one of their recently-acquired executives from Sankaku. While protecting the place from thieves was important, data loss wouldn't be significant if something went wrong.

"But your resume tells us that will not happen" his nebulous boss told him "We all remember you at the party eight years ago. Shalem 11 tried to kill our CEO but it was you who stopped him from carrying it out!"

Steve didn't want to tell his boss it was only possible because Plastech had installed cybernetic eyes to augment his vision… finding work in security would be impossible if they knew the truth.

"Yes I did. Hell, he was even such a good sport afterwards" Steve told him instead. _He also introduced me to Honey._

He sighed and checked his datapad as he stood in the executive terminal room. He kept his eyes on the door however as best he could. Everything was a blur and it was only when he pulled the datapad away from his face that he could watch the holovid on the screen. It was a classic he enjoyed watching.

It was coming up to his favourite part… the heroes were trying to rescue their friend and idol from the hands of some ruthless government-types and there was only a single, effeminate security guard blocking them. There was a bit of back and forth dialogue involving who had the authority to enter the building before the hero shot the guard and moved in.

He checked the end credits of the holovid – "Esther Martins as Security Guard #3"

With a wistful sigh, he rewound that scene. "Can't believe she died once that smear campaign came out…"

"We may have a possible breach in the alarm system" the security dispatcher informed the guards "Source unknown but just in case, we'll be raising it to Level 1 in a minute."

Steve nodded and looked up at the camera in the room. It was currently offline to save on power bills. It also meant he was currently unsupervised, except for the heart monitor linked to the alarm system.

With that, Steve put the datapad away and grabbed a coffee cup he held nearby on a nearby potted plant. The contents were still steaming-hot as he took a sip and immediately spat it out. "Uggh, what button did I press?" he muttered to himself, staring at the wall.

It was at that moment the door behind him opened and someone stepped into the room. Steve however did not notice this as he put a hand behind himself to check to see where his credit chit went only to feel an empty pocket. "Must have left it in the break room" he grumbled.

"SecNet is picking up an unauthorised tap with the executive terminal. Steve, you're in the same room are you not?" the security dispatcher asked.

Steve looked at the wall and glanced around "I don't see anyone in here but me."

"Additional cameras are coming online now" the dispatcher said, followed by the sound of a hand hitting a forehead. "Steve! You're not watching the door!"

Steve jumped in surprise, spilling his coffee. "Shoot!" he exclaimed, turning around. "I thought the… never mind, I'll investigate the terminal."

He slowly walked over to the terminal inside the spacious office. He stared straight at the blurry console and lowered his eyes, putting a hand to his forehead "Looking around…"

He saw a large hazy shape for a second before it vanished. "Guess it was nothing" he said, rubbing his eyes. The dispatcher said the tap would be logged as a false positive in the system – apart from Steve facing the wrong way there was nothing else in the room.

As he turned around though, he saw another shape moving rapidly in his peripheral vision. "Huh?"

"Attention, alarm is at Level 2. There are possible unknown intruders actively infiltrating the system. Firewalls have been increased to counteract this digital intrusion" The dispatcher informed everyone.

Steve shrugged and looked around at the location of the next shape. "Must be imagining things" he muttered, heading back towards his station. He went several steps before another blur ran past his peripheral vision. This one looked vaguely different to the other; it was much broader.

"What the?" he asked as he felt a looming presence next to him.

"My condolences for your loss, friend" a heavily-accented voice said before Steve's vision was replaced with a series of dazzling lights and stars.

As he lay unconscious on the floor, Steve dreamed about floating in a dark void filled with stars. In the far distance he could make out a bright light that seemed to be beckoning him to approach.

"Who are you?" he shouted into the light.

"You must help me!" the light shouted back. The voice seemed to have a metallic tone to it; like a Plastech cyborg.

He floated over gently towards the light. His eyesight seemed to be much better in the dreamscape; nothing came out as an indistinct blur. Then he saw it, hovering in the middle of the light. "Banks? What the!?" Steve exclaimed in a mixture of shock and anger.

A young woman in a trenchcoat and skirt floated in the air, unconscious. Several neural uplink cables dangled from the back of her head, connected to some sort of invisible port. "Steve! They have me! They have you! You must free us!" Banks said, her voice coming from further beyond.

Then the body's eyes opened. They were bright red and glowing menacingly. Her entire face melted into a metallic skull; much like a Plastech cyborg. The machine gave a growl at Steve and suddenly he found himself being jolted awake by another guard.

"Huh? Bruce, what happened?" Steve asked, rolling to his feet. He grasped his head in searing pain.

"We got infiltrated, that's what!" Bruce informed him "Banks and Shalem just went through the facility and looted all the safes and stole the data from that terminal."

"Banks?" Steve asked.

"You were supposed to be guarding that terminal! How could you have let this happen, Steve?" Bruce shouted

"I didn't see anyone come in" Steve explained "But I thought I heard something and went to investigate."

"Not according to the camera footage" Bruce brought up a video feed of Steve standing and staring at the nearby wall for several minutes according to the timestamp.

Then the picture suddenly shifted to show Steve lying on the ground nearby, fast asleep, followed by the door being blown open by Bruce as he rushed in, looking for intruders.

"I was knocked out! I would never fall asleep at my post!" Steve protested "Ask Dispatch…"

Bruce shook his head "Our employers have sent word. Because of your incompetence, they've decided to let you go. Your badge, gun and uniform please."

Steve sighed and handed off his equipment. "I can't believe this is happening" he grumbled as Bruce escorted him out of the building and onto the cold, polluted streets.

He went to a local café to contemplate his life choices now that he had been fired from a second guard job in the span of a day. That vision of Banks in his dream plagued his mind as he drank his overpriced coffee and watched his favourite movie on the datapad. _What was up with Banks' face?_ He asked himself.

"Huh, didn't think people still watched that" a woman in a purple business dress commented, sitting down opposite Steve.

He was watching the scene involving Security Guard #3 yet again. "Seriously, the writer of that movie was such a hack" the woman continued, grabbing Steve's coffee and downing it "Why would someone be that incompetent at security?"

"Hey!" Steve exclaimed, both at the remark and the fact this unknown woman was stealing his drink. He reached out to grab it back only for the woman to get up and walk away, throwing the empty cup at Steve's face.

"What was that all about?" he grumbled, rewinding the datapad back to watch the scene again. "Can't believe your acting career ended the same way it began… with a bullet to the head…"

Steve's phone buzzed with a new message. This time it was from Sankaku Industries.

"Greetings Steve. We have just heard about your unfair dismissal from Kelfried & Odin on SecNet! Don't worry though, because Sankaku would be most honoured if you could join our family! Executive Kenji had requested for you personally at his office in New Delhi and your skills have indicated you as being most suitable for such a task. Here's an incentive to get you started! We would be pleased to see you soon."

Steve sighed and messaged back he would accept the offer and set off to the Transport Beam Terminal to take him across the continent.


	3. Chapter 2: Financially Suite

Six hours later, Steve was dressed up in the uniform of a Sankaku Industries security guard and he was transported to the New Delhi Financial Suite. There, Executive Kenji was waiting for him. The man was glancing at a series of data figures in his plush office as he informed Steve of his duties.

"Ah Steve, I haven't seen you since six years ago" Kenji said "How's the family faring?"

"I remember you Kenji. That was one hell of a gala you held" Steve said, shaking hands with the man "As for my family… Honey left me as soon as I got fired."

"To be fair Steve, you had been in a coma for about a year. But it is unfair that Plastech goes and fires you for a little incident with a security mainframe" Kenji said "Then K&O… those bastards only fired you to cover their embarrassment. You won't find that sort of treatment here at Sankaku."

He pointed to one of the doors of the office – his suite seemed to be built in the middle of the floor with several doors leading into it. "I need you on patrol through that door and back in here."

He handed Steve a Level 1 Security Passcard. "Use this to access the break room. You've got a long shift and I want you alert and watching out for intruders! I need to get this TPS report done for HQ."

"Anything else?" Steve asked.

"Yes. I will not be responding to any alarms under Level 5. So do not distract me from my work unless it's important" Kenji said "Hopefully this will be a quiet night but you never know what might happen over the next few days."

Steve nodded and started his patrol through the office. Just outside the office was a Transport Beam Terminal for non-security enquiries. _Next few days?_ He thought to himself, wondering what the executive meant.

A floating sphere buzzed past him, leaving the door it just used wide open.

"Were you programmed in a barn?" the guard asked the drone. The machine beeped in response, although he couldn't tell if it was insulting him or just beeping as part of programming.

The guard went on his patrol route for an hour before grabbing himself a cup of coffee and a stale doughnut from the break room. He was about to take his first sip when the security dispatch informed everyone of a possible intrusion.

"We're raising the alarm level to 1, just to be sure."

Steve heard the door behind him open and he gave a quick glance back to make out the blurry shape of the camera drone. He sighed and went to close the door when the drone did it for him.

"Stupid machine… now you remember" Steve grumbled, drinking his coffee. He remarked how it was better than K&O's version of coffee when suddenly the drone collapsed to the ground.

"This drone is down" he said, walking over the machine and standing on top "Eh must be jumpy tonight."

He heard a guard in a nearby room state the same thing to another noise. With a shrug, Steve headed back towards Kenji's office. As soon as he had opened the door, he heard the drone power back online and start up a scan of the room.

With a yawn, Steve sipped the coffee again and looked to see if Kenji was still working on the TPS report. All he saw on the desk was a datapad lying face-down and several scattered desktop items.

Steve chuckled and said "When you gotta go, you gotta go…"

As he turned around to go back on patrol, a devious thought came to mind. _I've always wondered what it's like to sit behind one of these desks. Why do the executives love them so much?_

He glanced around the room for a second before walking towards the big executive chair. It was still slowly spinning, perhaps from its occupant's hasty departure. He sat down and laughed with a heart-hearted "Investigating." _I'll probably never get another opportunity like this again._

He sank into the soft padding of the chair and kicked his feet up against the edge. "Bill, I want those TPS reports done by Monday… Monica, get me a coffee!" he whispered.

Several loud footsteps resounded behind him and he quickly jumped back onto his feet, expecting Kenji to be standing there, looking very disappointed in the guard's shirking of duties.

"I'm sorry Kenji-san I… oh" Steve said, exasperated as he found no one standing behind the chair. He shrugged and remarked "Huh… guess it was nothing."

He patted his back pockets and looked back at the desk. His credit chit and security card were missing. _I probably left them in the break room again. I'll pick them up after the shift_ , he thought to himself, grabbing his coffee and doughnut and walking away from the desk. As he pushed the chair back, he felt it bump against something.

"What the?" he asked, looking down at the obstruction.

Executive Kenji laid prone underneath the desk, his eyes and mouth wide open in horror. At first Steve thought the man was dead but there was a faint heartbeat – he was paralysed by some sort of drug. "Dispatch, I've found Kenji paralysed under the desk. Raise the alarm"

"Alarm Level is at 3. I'm bringing in another guard" the dispatcher informed Steve as he dragged the executive out from under the desk "You're authorised to go into a hunting pattern."

"Understood… wait what was that?" Steve said, checking another loud set of footsteps in his vicinity.

"Are you alright Steve?" the dispatcher asked.

"I heard something" Steve replied, drawing his pistol and looking around. A door nearby opened and he pointed the gun at the blurry figure that stepped through.

"Identify yourself!" he shouted at it.

"Holy…" said the guard that was coming through "Watch where you point that!"

"There's an intruder in the building. Shouldn't you be helping me search for them?" Steve asked.

"I'm investigating the area, I'll…" the guard started to say when he spotted Kenji's prone body. "Guard down. Investigating."

Steve shook his head and spotted the camera drone; it had fallen yet again. "This drone is down!" he shouted, rushing over and standing on top of it.

"Steve, we're aware of the drone's malfunctions. We'll be taking it in for maintenance shortly" Dispatch informed him "Can you please not stand on top of it?"

More loud footsteps were heard nearby and Steve rushed over to the source. _This would be so much easier with my implants… I'm running around literally blind at every sound_ , he thought to himself as he saw nothing yet again.

He looked towards the Transport Beam Terminal only to then have his vision yet again replaced by swirling colours and flashing lights. "Apologies again. But you are in our way."

That same dream appeared yet again for Steve. He was standing in a dark void with a single source of light. He rushed towards it, seeing it was the only place to go; there he saw Banks being suspended in the air.

"They have you too. You must not listen to…" her voice resounded from further beyond

"Validate yourself" a second voice said, this one coming from Banks. It was very robotic in nature.

"Steve?" Steve answered questioningly.

"Invalid. Contacting security" the Daemon said.

Steve took several steps back only to find his feet dangling off the edge of the void for some reason. "What's going on?" he shouted.

"Wake up Steve!" Executive Kenji's voice said, jolting Steve to his feet.

"Uggh… what happened?"

"We got infiltrated" Kenji said with a sad sigh "Through no fault of your own I believe."

"Infiltrated? By whom Kenji-san?" Steve asked. He quickly checked his pockets and found his security card in one of them; he assumed one of the infiltrators, perhaps as a joke had returned the card once it served its purpose.

"We're pulling the records now but I believe it was Invisible Inc. They've been rather busy these past few hours" Kenji explained, tapping his forehead "They stole some codes from my memchip."

"What sort of codes did they take, Kenji-san?" Steve queried.

"Codes to a vault I own nearby" Kenji said "They couldn't get anything else of course; their crude, inelegant infiltration tools cannot get past my memetic training and defences."

 _Vault Codes_ , Steve thought to himself. "So what now? Do we contact the vault's security and let them know of a possible infiltration?"

"I can't just contact them and request they change some vault codes" Kenji said, sitting down at his desk and gesturing for Steve to sit opposite it "I might own the place but if Sankaku HQ finds out I lost the vault codes, I'll either be assigned to New Zealand or having to find work for FTM."

He leaned forwards on the chair and crossed his hands together "This information does not leave the room, Steve. I like you and your work, hence why I'm going to trust you won't... spill the beans as they say."

"Your secret is safe with me, Kenji-san" Steve replied "You bravely fought off the intruders attempts to hack your brain and everything is fine."

"Good" Kenji replied "Which means now I've got a new assignment for you… head to the Transport Beam Terminal. You're going to be assisting with the security of my vault."


End file.
